7th Week of Easter (B) : Wednesday 19th May 2021

At the Last Supper (Jn. 17), Jesus prayed that “all be one.” While this is often used in an ecumenical sense of the unity of all Christians, it is more likely that John is suggesting that Jesus had a broader perspective, thinking of the unity of the whole human race, in accordance with the affirmation which he has made earlier in the Gospel (Jn. 11:51), that Jesus was to die to gather together in unity the scattered children of God.

When we speak of Original Sin, we generally think only of the story of Adam and Eve. Reading the Bible on a deeper level, however, we understand that different aspects of Original Sin and its consequences are revealed in all the stories in the early chapters of Genesis. Thus, the story of the Tower of Babel (Gen. 11:1-9) suggests that the main result of Babel was that we are scattered and can “no longer understand each other.” Our experience teaches us that this lack of understanding is not due simply to human languages’ multiplicity but lies much deeper in the human psyche.

In response to the prayer of Jesus, Father in Heaven brings all of us, Your scattered children, out of Babel to a true unity grounded in Your justice and peace.